JeffM

Nifty design! I find pocket cruisers intriguing, though I still like a big cockpit. It looks like you're making great progress. Any idea when she'll be wet? And where exactly is that centerboard trunk anyway? Built into the side of the cockpit? side of the V-berth? And is this boat for you, or for someone else?

Pretty! Now what exactly are trail boards?

1/16"!!! Gosh, I wish I could get that close -- and then still worry about it! For my part, I'm still finding little (and some not so little) asymetries in my hull. Even so, she floats, handles beautifully, and goes fast!

Greg, I built a Core Sound in an unheated garage here in New England. I saved centerboard and rudder work for February, cause I could do it in the basement (semi-heated), or kitchen (supportive wife!). If I just HAD to work on the boat, I did interior work. I covered the hull with blankets or whatever was handy, and set up a cheap, low-profile electric heater inside. (Auto-shutoff on tip-over and a thermostat were features worth their weight.) I'd heat the interior ahead of time, then work fast to coat with epoxy, then cover and heat some more. All in all, the biggest headaches weren't setting time (I found epoxy would EVENTUALLY set at temps well below its advertised limits), but the viscosity (slow flow) that severely reduced the area I could cover, and then drips running all over the place when I wasn't looking.

Terry, I'm thinking the best way to improve your mast stepper would be to make it taller so keeping the mast in it would be less fidgety--especially when man-handling it afloat. How high do you think the pivot should be above the deck? It seems to me that the taller it is, the wider and longer it would need to be to be strong, and the ugly factor increases pretty quick.

Thanks, Frank! It turned out to be my Zone Alarm: I went into the site list and approved "private headers." That did the trick. Now I can study that mast stepper.

Anybody ever had this happen? For the last few weeks, my computer displays those little image boxes in place of photos, avatars and "emoticons." Clicking on thumbnails brings the photos up, but some photos are not thumbnails, so I get nothing. I want to look at Terry Dunn's mast step helper as I plan my own, and I can't bring it up! (My Pictures display fine. I think they're the same file type.)

Beauty! But does it knead bread dough?

Thanks, Graham! That tabernacle must really be built, what with only a short stub of mast, and that not going down very far. I see the problem -- with the mainmast so near the pointy end you don't have much room to swing it. For my part, with my boat already built, I'll go the mast-stepper route. Besides the structural work it would entail, the forepeak is the one compartment I have that's water-tight! I plan to try out a mast-stepper screwed down to my patio to get the design right before I start drilling ugly holes in Beatrice Ann's foredeck.

Charlie, that Burmos looks uncannily like the East German-made Bat stove I used as a spare burner when I was a Peace Corp volunteer in Samoa in the 80's. I loved that stove but finally gave up trying to jerry gaskets that would keep it from losing pressure. Now I throw a Coleman gasoline 2-burner stove on the cockpit seat.

Terry, that suggestion to make the stepper higher so more of the mast base can be inserted is worth its weight. Thanks!

Charlie, your kerosene anchor light is a great idea. After my last unintentional night-time sail, I am vowing to get a removeable nav light (uses LEDs + 4 AA cells, from Duckworks), but I want an anchor light that will go all night without worries about battery life. I'll bet I can hang a Dietz lantern from my mizzen staysl halyard. I notice the different Dietz lanterns vary in candlepower. Do you recall the type you have? (The one with 5/8" wicks seem to run 4-8 candlepower, while the 7/8" wicks seem to run 14-18 candlepower.)

Ray, the tabernacle idea is interesting, but sounds pretty radical and too much like work. (Anyway, what holds such a mast in the upright position?) Terry, yours is the one I remember -- sorry I didn't attribute it to you. Have you tried to step your masts while afloat? I suppose that I could use your idea if I changed the mast-lock fitting from mast-mounted with a pin going into the deck, to deck-mounted, with a pin going into the mast. Is your mast-stepping device permanently attached, or do you have some provision for unscrewing it?

My daily commute takes me past some pretty coves and river mouths that I would love to get the Beatrice Ann into, but every one is closed by a bridge. Forget for a moment the difficulty of negotiating the shallow waters of these places in a cs under sail -- how do I get into them in the first place? I find stepping the mast even on the trailer a hazardous process: I haven't actually killed or maimed anyone yet, but at one time or another I've hit probably every inanimate object in a radius of 20 ft with the main mast head. Trying to step the mast afloat sounds nearly impossible single-handed. The mast-stepping device made of a pvc coupling would be a good step forward (I forget who designed this), but I have a fitting around the mast just above deck level to prevent the mast turning when I've reefed around the mast. Also, how hard is it to raise the mast in such a stepper when it means raising such a long lever arm? I tried an experiment in which I cut a pvc coupling so it was a 1/2 circle and then tied it with a loop around cleats on either side of the mast tube. I hoped this would be stable enough to help me step the mast, and then the stepper could be removed to make room for the mast fitting. It didn't work -- the rope simply didn't stabilize it well enough. Ideas?

Congratulation! A very pretty boat. Makes me wish the warm season would return a little quicker here in New England: I'm reduced to poring over charts, planning improvements, etc. -- the 98% of every adventure that occurs ashore.

Just the one! Thank you both. I've just come from an enjoyable hour poking about a few inland cruising and microcruising websites after looking up Mr. Stock and going off on tangents.[/url]

Sometime over last winter (I think), someone included a link in their post to a guy in Great Britain who cruises the inland waters there in his little gaff sloop. He sails the tiniest waters. (I recall he'd actually sailed OVER a highway in an aquaduct.) Does anybody recall his name or website?

I like my aft deck. I perch on it sometimes for the view. Also, I suspect boarding over the transom is a little easier with the deck than without--no sharp edges to climb over. My lazarette hatch is in the bulkhead, and I find the storage it affords to be very generous: the lazarette is about as big as the forepeak, and much more accessable underway.

What IS a good GPS for general use -- but especially sailing? I've never had one, but I know I'd want an inexpensive hand-held. Speed, distance made good over ground, and maybe compass direction would be necessary features. Truly waterproof would be essential. I've looked around a little bit and the Magellan Explorist 200 looks good. (I'm trying to decide what I should ask Santa for.)

Would this be like a tiny wood stove, with a chimney to the outside? If not, I'd worry about carbon monoxide.

A Clarke fan! How is the old boy, I wonder?

Adla, what a disappointment! I suppose you shouldn't give in the temptation to simply drag the trailer--sans wheels--to the ramp. Would probably do bad things to boat, tow vehicle, and for sure the trailer...

Core Sound sailors will attest that an unstayed rig has some significant advantages. Since our sails can literally do a 360, we can stabilize our boats going downwind in stiff winds by letting our sails go foreward of the mast. Even more useful, we can make gentle "touchdowns" on downwind beaches, docks and ramps. I confess I have no idea how far forward you can usefully let a boomless rig go, but I expect far enough to depower it pretty well.

I've looked at the drawings, and it's not clear to me what keeps the board from swinging back (hinging on those little wheels) in response to the pressure of the flowing water? Granted it would be a nice feature if you hit bottom, but I'm not sure I'd trust lateral pressure and friction to hold the board down at speed. More and more, I like the positive control of cb angle I get with the combination of uphaul and downhaul on my cs. And, so far, no leaking at the pin.

Dunno much, but I'm guessing a separate solid set would be just as easy (or easier) to make, no more difficult to store, and have fewer places to leak through. The screening is a good idea, though.